Because His Right Hand, Jesus, has purchased my salvation, I will praise Him with the rest of creation.

May my new song rise with wings to the heavens.

Psalm 98

1 

Sing to the Lord a new song,

for he has done marvelous things;

his right hand and his holy arm

have worked salvation for him.

2 

The Lord has made his salvation known

and revealed his righteousness to the nations.

3 

He has remembered his love

and his faithfulness to Israel;

all the ends of the earth have seen

the salvation of our God.

4 

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth,

burst into jubilant song with music;

5 

make music to the Lord with the harp,

with the harp and the sound of singing,

6 

with trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn—

shout for joy before the Lord, the King.

7 

Let the sea resound, and everything in it,

the world, and all who live in it.

8 

Let the rivers clap their hands,

let the mountains sing together for joy;

9 

let them sing before the Lord,

for he comes to judge the earth.

He will judge the world in righteousness

and the peoples with equity.

Week 40 Enemies and Friends

It does not matter who said it -Gandhi, Kahlil Gibran, Martin Luther King or Tevyeh- “An eye for an eye will leave everyone blind” is still a Truth. If Jesus came to give sight to the blind why do WE insist on causing our enemies’ blindness through vengeance, retaliation and self-justification?

At what point do we live out the words of 1Corinthians 13? Or take to heart Jesus’ beatitudes shared only a few verses earlier in Matthew 5? When exactly is the best time to humble ourselves as the Lord of the Universe did, if not when we are most tempted to exalt ourselves over someone else?

Jesus didn’t say it was easy to follow His path, but He did say He would be with us on our cross-bearing journey.

Matthew 5:38-42

You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

Week 39 Giving is Receiving

As much as I give to the least person, I give to Jesus. In taking care of His business, He pays me back. He, Himself, will never be indebted to me. So I can take a chance on Giving extravagantly, as He does for me. I just can’t outgive God.

If anyone is poor among your fellow Israelites in any of the towns of the land the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward them. Rather, be OPENHANDED and FREELY lend them whatever they need. Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought: “The seventh year, the year for canceling debts, is near,” so that you do not show ill will toward the needy among your fellow Israelites and give them nothing. They may then appeal to the LORD against you, and you will be found guilty of sin. GIVE GENEROUSLY to them and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the LORD your God WILL BLESS YOU in all your work and in everything you put your hand to. There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be OPENHANDED toward your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy in your land.
Deuteronomy 15:7-11

Freely you receive, freely give.
Matthew 10:8

Behold, I (Jesus) am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to each one according to the merit of his deeds (earthly works, faithfulness). I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End [the Eternal One].
Revelation 22:12-13

Week 38  Giving IS Receiving 

Mark 9:35
   &
Mt 16:25
Jn 12:24-25
Phil 3:8

A new way of seeing. Seeing mankind, created in His image. 

Man can’t reflect His Image because only the Blood can reveal it. But I, called His blood-sister, can see what others cannot. 

In order to reconcile the lost to their Father, I must give my life as a servant of all. I have the power to guide those in darkness towards the light so they can accept the truth of their Savior’s Love. 

As much as I give away, I give way to Jesus, yet, I receive all from the very One I give to. It’s an inside , outside, upside down Kingdom, where I die to live, and I give to gain.

Made me think of this Misty Edwards song…
Servant of All by Misty Edwards
I wanna be Your lover so show me how to go lower
For in the depths I will find You where You’re serving my brother

I wanna be with You where You are I wanna be with You wherever You are
I wanna be with You where You are; You’re the servant of all

I’m in love with a king who became a slave
I’m in love with a God who is humble

You gotta go down if you wanna go up
And You’ve gotta go lower if you wanna go higher and higher

Well you’ve gotta hide and do it in secret if you wanna be seen by God
Cause it’s the inside outside upside down kingdom

Where you lose to gain and you die to live 

Week 37 Let Your Troubles Fall Away

Give and it shall be given to you… I would love that ‘pressed down, running over’ return on my giving. But in context, what is Jesus saying we are to give? Forgiveness. 

In 2 Corinthians 2 Paul exhorts the church body to forgive and comfort one who has fallen from grace. Why? So the devil won’t outsmart us, keeping the offended in bondage as well as the offender. 

Instead, as I let go of offenses through the act of forgiveness, I release a sweet aroma to God. As in the burnt sacrifices of old, the altar of burnt offense pleases God. The thing about burning is that the neighbors can tell what you have in your burn pile by the scent.

I love the smell of burning leaves but not burning plastic. Some people love the smell of lavender oil, but some crinkle their nose at the scent. For those that smell the sweetness in our forgiveness, they seek out the source of that sweetness, Jesus who gives such grace. To others, those who cannot let go of bitter waters, that sweet smell is a ridiculous and offensive. 

So in essence, I smell like something. I am hoping I smell like sweet perfume both to God and those around me. 

2 Corinthians 2:5-11, 14-17 
“I am not overstating it when I say that the man who caused all the trouble hurt all of you more than he hurt me. Most of you opposed him, and that was punishment enough. Now, however, it is time to forgive and comfort him. Otherwise he may be overcome by discouragement. So I urge you now to reaffirm your love for him. I wrote to you as I did to test you and see if you would fully comply with my instructions. When you forgive this man, I forgive him, too. And when I forgive whatever needs to be forgiven, I do so with Christ’s authority for your benefit, so that Satan will not outsmart us. For we are familiar with his evil schemes.
But thank God! He has made us his captives and continues to lead us along in Christ’s triumphal procession. Now he uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume. Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God. But this fragrance is perceived differently by those who are being saved and by those who are perishing. To those who are perishing, we are a dreadful smell of death and doom. But to those who are being saved, we are a life-giving perfume. And who is adequate for such a task as this? You see, we are not like the many hucksters who preach for personal profit. We preach the word of God with sincerity and with Christ’s authority, knowing that God is watching us.”

Luke 6:37-38
“Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn others, or it will all come back against you. Forgive others, and you will be forgiven. Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back. ”

“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of My hands; your walls are ever before Me.Isaiah 49:15‭-‬16 

Engraved = Chiseled out, as the law was chiseled out of stone.
Palms = Hollow of His hand.

As C.S. Lewis says, there is ‘deep magic’ in the innocent Lamb’s sacrifice for me. His pierced hands formed an unbreakable tablet of stone, a new law that freed me from death and the grave . Now NOTHING can snatch me from His hand.

Week 36 Let all Your Troubles Fall Away 
Mt 18:15-35  

All year we have been learning of the light and true love of our infinitely complete Father, in whose image we are made. Now we will consider the thing that blocks our sight of this truth and the means of removing the block.
                                         The ‘thing’ is unforgiveness.

The word that we translate as ‘forgive’ really means ‘to let go.’ 
                                                  aphiēmi- let go

By letting go of the plank of offense, we remove the blind spot so we are free to see God’s real purpose and heart in any situation.

“Forgiveness isn’t about absolving another of their crime, rather it is letting go of the offense you embraced when that crime was committed against you… If you are complete, nothing can truly threaten you. There is no longer any need to pretend you aren’t already safe, complete, and risen in Jesus. As such, you are no longer a victim.” (The Forgotten Way, Dekker, p.193)

See how Jesus answers Peter in Matthew 18:21 & 22.
“Then Peter came to him and asked, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?”
“No, not seven times,” Jesus replied, “but 70 times 7!”
Matthew 18:21-22 NLT

If you have a different version, this might read 77 times, or if you’re reading in Luke, Jesus says seven times a day. So should you forgive 7×70, 77 or seven times a day? It’s not about the number at all; Jesus’ intent is to forgive countless numbers of times, to keep no record of wrongs. Remember 1Corinthians 13?

We let our troubles fall away when we let go of our offense and unforgiveness.

Week 35 Being Love in Darkness 

In Matthew 25:31-45, Jesus speaks of goats and sheep, those who meet the needs of the ‘least’ and those who walk around them, and how those groups treat Him.
First let me point out that man decides who is least, even though God created everyone. Some people may not be reconciled to him yet, but they were ALL created in His image. WE put people on the most-to-least scale. 
Our job is to lift EVERYONE up and reconcile them to the Father who restores them into His image. Arguing will not lift anyone up, turning a blind eye will not, defending ourselves and our stuff surely will not. Only Love, His Love in us, will be able to break the chains of bondage. 
In the current climate, the greatest miracle in the whole world may not be physically raising someone from the dead; it may be walking out the sacrificial Love of Jesus in our own bodies. 
Love listens, love covers, love responds with compassion and chain-breaking power.
If the we, the Church, can’t do this, we leave Jesus in the grave.

                                                         Love IS a sign and wonder.

Matthew 25:31-45

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. 

Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; TAKE YOUR INHERITANCE, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. FOR I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ 

Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ 

The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, WHATEVER YOU DID FOR ONE of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, YOU DID FOR ME.’ 

Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ 

He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

Week 34 Being Love in Darkness

So I have had these scriptures rolling around in my heart a long time. The title for these next two weeks was planned in January, yet, in light of Charlottesville etc., how much more timely can it be? 

God has been preparing us for such a time as this by revealing the Truth of His love for us. And we have been preparing for this moment by accepting and internalizing His Love. NOW it is time to to take action.

The following scriptures are self-explanatory examples for putting Love in action.

Luke 10:25-37
One time an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
 “What is written in the Law?” He replied. “How do you read it?” 
 He answered, “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ” 
 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” 
 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR?” 
 In reply Jesus said:  “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’ 
“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” 
The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” 
Jesus told him, “GO AND DO LIKEWISE.”

James 3:8-10
No human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are created in the likeness of God…
Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right!

Genesis 1:27
So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

Matthew 5:44-45
But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

Romans 13:10 
Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

Week 33 The Way of Love

Can we agree that God IS love? Do you remember when Jesus told His people to Love each other as He has Loved us? When He commanded you to love Him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, AND to love your neighbor AS yourself? He said THAT was more important than ALL the burnt offerings and sacrifices. 

                                                   That makes me think of 1 Corinthians 13.

But first, Psalm 103:8-12 explains how God expresses Love:
The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

That’s how God loves you. In Truth, you can only love others to the same degree you love yourself.  Understanding the depth and breadth of your Father’s love for you allows you to freely love yourself. Then you are able to manifest the Love He has shown you to others.

                            Our Heavenly Father does not ask us to love in a way He does not Himself love.

1 Corinthians 13 shows us how to love, yes, but also details how God loves us. So often we put pressure on ourselves to love others like this without understanding that God himself loves us this way first. 

For instance, I have struggled with the fact that God truly keeps no record of my wrongs, which made it hard to let go of others wrongs. But when I understood and internalized that God doesn’t accuse, throwing my transgressions away as far as the east is from the west, I could let go of others faults more easily.

If He asks you to turn the other cheek, do you think He does not? If He asks you not to be offended by insults, do you think He can be offended? If He asks you not to be provoked to anger, do you think He is easily provoked?
                                                                                    God is 1 Corinthians 13.

1 Co 13
If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. 

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. 
But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 
When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.